wolftrap recap

after the debacle that was joss stone (and gavin degraw before that) i was honestly just hoping it wouldn't rain for the concert friday night. well, i must have some good karma (what's that?) because the weather friday night was absolutely gorgeous!

obviously we got there early to get in line so we (correction: i) could run down and put our blankets down. we got there thirty minutes before they gates opened and the crowd was already lined up to the street. but, luckily we thought to sneak up into a corner line where there was only one group ahead of us.

i ran down and got the best seat in the house (well on the lawn at least). we were front and center - and could see the stage fine even if we were sitting down. i've also added something new to "the list" - stand on stage at wolftrap while everyone is running down the hill. i noticed the band was doing this on friday and i imagine it is quite the sight!

to pass the time we played some cards and a very competitive game of "how many people do you know?" even though we started marking our arms i think we lost track. i guess we were all winners!

stephen kellogg and the sixers were the first band to come on. this is probably the fourth or fifth time i've seen them live - they're so fun! they played a lot of their old "hits" and through in a few new ones from their newly released cd (newly as in on friday). the highlight of the sk6ers shows is always the cover medley. this time he started way back with beethoven's symphony and brought it all the way up to girlfriend and rehab. i was just disappointed that goose didn't strip during his infamous dance. i guess wolftrap is a family friendly venue.

next up was carbon leaf. i've only seen them live two times before. and even though i don't know a whole lot of their music i still thoroughly enjoyed their show! but, i didn't enjoy it as much as the guy standing in front of us. he literally stood up and danced for their entire set. he was loving life. i think we tried to capture it on video, but i'm not sure we succeeded. the weirdest part was when about 45 minutes into their set they started singing the national anthem. wtf?? i mean it got everyone up out of their "seats," but then they played a slow song afterwards so everyone sat down again. totally bizarre.

and then it was time for the main event. by this time the sun had set and the beer haze had set in. the band came on stage with some techno-y music playing in the background, but then quickly launched into runaway. and from there they played songs from as far back as girl from athens all they way up to a bunch of their brand new songs. they brought up about 42 guests to play w/ them (including michael ghegan, al walsh, todd wright, mike meadows, etc.) it was great to have the old school pat vibe - the vocals were amazing!

tragically the show ended right at 11pm on the dot (stupid neighborhood noise ordinances). so after saying goodbye to all of the swim coaches (small world, i know) our group headed home. and now i come to find out (via the message board) that they went to jj and rocked out all night. now that is a "concert" i am truly sorry i missed. maybe if we had hung w/ hugh a little later he would have clued us into the after hours jam session.